Flush Your Water Heater Twice a Year

According to Consumer Reports, I should be flushing my water heater twice a year. I haven’t done that in the past and so when I tried it, no water would come out of the drain. Even though the water heater says that it is self-cleaning – obviously it is not.

If you are counting on this water in an emergency, flushing the water heater twice a year will be a good way to ensure that the water will be available when needed.

Turn off the heater or put in on a vacation setting to keep it from going on. You could also put it on a Pilot setting. Relighting the pilot light can be a pain., so I would suggest not turning the pilot light off.

Attach a hose to the water heater drain and bring the hose to a nearby drain. Watch out – the water will be extremely hot coming out of the tank.

Turn off the cold water supply to the water heater.

Open up a hot water tap in the house.

Open the water heater drain and let it run until the water is clear. Turn off the drain and wait a few minutes and try this again. When it’s always clear then you can close the drain.

Turn on the cold water inlet.

Go to your upstairs faucet that is on – let the air out and then close when the water come out.